Amazon.co.uk Review
There were those who feared that the end of the Cold War would deal a fatal blow to the creativity of many first-rate thriller writers who specialised in this territory. In the case of John le Carré, this would have meant the loss of not only Britain's finest thriller writer, but a serious novelist of quite as much literary gravitas as any of his mainstream contemporaries. Certainly, The Spy Who Came In From The Cold remains as utterly compelling today as when it was written, whereas such post-cold war le Carré themes as financial double-dealing seemed to inspire him less than the world of shifting identity he had dealt in so skilfully. But with The Constant Gardener, we have the author once again firing on all cylinders. The characterisation is as elegant and expressive as ever, the prose as limpid and forceful. But, most of all, le Carré has found a theme quite as pregnant as any he has handled in the past: the malign, deceptively ameliorative world of global pharmaceuticals. In the new novel, the customary themes of betrayal and danger are explored in a narrative that exerts a total grip throughout its considerable length. His protagonist, Justin Quayle, is an unreflective British diplomat whose job in the British High Commission in Nairobi suggests one of Graham Greene's dispossessed protagonists trying to survive in the sultry corruption of foreign climates. President Arap Moi's Kenya is a country in the grip of AIDS, while political machinations maintain a deadly status quo. When Quayle's wife (who has taken more interest in what is happening around her than her husband) is killed, his investigation of her murder leads him into a murky web of exploitation involving Kenyan greed and a major pharmaceutical company eager to promote its "wonder cure" for tuberculosis. As Quayle looks deeper into the company which his wife had been investigating, all he has carefully built around him begins to crumble. The steady accumulation of tension and rigorous delineation of character is emblematic of le Carré at his finest, and it is a tremendous pleasure to find the author so resolutely back on form, fired with a real sense of anger at the duplicity of the modern world

Le Carre is an author that my husband reads but normally I do not. However having seen the film I really want to read this one!

This novel was somewhat spoilt for me by the fact that I already seen the film. A mistake as I much prefer not to have any preconceived ideas about the plot, characters and settings, letting my imagination have free rein.
This is probably the reason that although the book has been on my bookshelves for a few years now I have only just got around to reading it. Even so with pictures already in my mind I did enjoy the book more than I expected to.

This novel is disturbingly believable as exploitation of Africa and Africans for medical testing by the giant pharmaceutical companies is a sad but I suspect true fact of life. In this case the story is set in Kenya and the protagonist Justin Quayle is a diplomat in Nairobi with the British High Commission. His wife Tessa is murdered because she finds out that a drug being used as a cure for tuberculosis within the tribal villages is unstable. There are still many unresolved and dangerous side effects making the drug unsafe for prescribing, although bribery and corruption have meant that it is in common local use. Tessa is a lawyer and so horrified by her discovery that along with her friend Arnold Bluhm she had been collecting data to prove what she has discovered.
After her death Justin carries on with his wife’s campaign, turning spy to resolve why his wife was murdered and by whom. Time spent working in the foreign office meant he knew to be extra careful in his investigations as ‘In a civilised country you never can tell!’

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Leaving at our holiday home for my brother in law to read.

Happy reading

LindyLouMac

This has quickly made its way home to me again!! My brother in law gave up after less than fifty pages.
I will now give some thought to getting it travelling again.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

A surprise RABCK from your wishlist for you Mazzlestar.
Happy reading

LindyLouMac

This arrived with me on Friday, much to my surprise! Thank you so much, I might try to read it whilst I'm in Spain next week but I suspect it will be left until afterwards as it looks a little intense for a holiday read!

Left on the wall outside The Copy Shop at the Rawdon end of Harrogate Road near Rawdon Crossroads.